Various types of salt and ion derived from reagents and catalysts used in each process, by-products produced in each process, and so forth, are contained in various saccharides obtained by providing a hydrolysis treatment on starting material such as starch, xylan, mannan, or whey, using enzyme or acid according to need, and in hydrides of saccharides obtained by hydrogenating the obtained saccharides. Accordingly, a refining process for removing the ion is essential in order to obtain products of various saccharides or hydrogenated saccharides from the starting material.
Hitherto, a method using an ion exchange resin has been generally adopted for removing ion contained in a solution of saccharides or hydrides thereof.
However, when ion is removed from the solution of saccharides or hydrides thereof as a solution to be treated by using a conventional ion exchange resin, various problems are caused in that the treated solution is colored, impurities are produced, the ion exchange resin is colored, the desalting capacity of the ion exchange resin rapidly decreases, and so on.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new method for desalting a saccharide solution in which the above-described problems do not occur when the desalting of a solution of saccharides or hydrides thereof is performed, and an ion exchanger used for performing the method.